In short
Podcast Summary: The Obsession That Made Her Unstoppable with Charlotte Tilbury
Overview In this episode of the "Aspire with Emma Grede" podcast, Emma Grede interviews Charlotte Tilbury, a renowned global makeup icon and founder of the Charlotte Tilbury beauty brand. The discussion revolves around Charlotte's passion for makeup, the journey of building a billion-dollar beauty empire, and the mindset that fueled her success.
Key Themes and Takeaways
- The Power of Obsession
- Charlotte highlights that obsession is not just a part of her work; it defines who she is.
- Her relentless focus on makeup artistry led to her success.
- Mindset and Belief
- Charlotte emphasizes the importance of belief, obsession, and relentless innovation in disrupting an overcrowded beauty industry.
- She discusses how confidence and self-worth contribute to leadership and drive.
- Career Journey
- From a young age, Charlotte aspired to be a makeup artist and honed her craft by working with top celebrities and brands.
- She identified a gap in the beauty market and sought to create products that made consumers feel beautiful and empowered.
- Launching the Brand
- Charlotte's determination led her to outline her vision in a project called the Ibiza Project, where she documented her ideas for makeup products.
- She emphasizes the significance of understanding consumer needs and creating products that resonate with them.
- Challenges and Growth
- Charlotte shares her experiences with raising funds, building a team, and the challenges she faced while transitioning from artist to entrepreneur.
- She discusses making tough decisions and learning from mistakes along the way.
- Leadership Philosophy
- Charlotte's leadership style is characterized by collaboration, creativity, and an open-door policy, encouraging her team to challenge her ideas.
- She believes that authenticity and emotional connection with consumers are crucial for brand loyalty.
- The Role of Confidence
- The conversation touches on the impact of confidence on success, particularly for women in business.
- Charlotte encourages women to embrace their uniqueness and not shy away from expressing themselves.
- Vision for the Future
- Charlotte expresses her desire to continue innovating and disrupting the beauty industry.
- She is committed to creating products that empower individuals and enhance their self-confidence.
Conclusion The episode concludes with Charlotte's powerful message encouraging listeners to dare to dream, believe in themselves, and take actionable steps toward their goals. Her infectious energy and unwavering belief in the potential of individuals, particularly women, serve as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Additional Notes
- Key Quotes:
- "Dare to dream it, dare to believe it, and then dare to do it."
- "Everything is energy. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you will get that reality."
- Personal Insights:
- Charlotte's approach blends hard work with a deep understanding of consumer needs, emphasizing the importance of both creativity and business acumen.
This episode is a reflection of how passion, hard work, and a strong belief in oneself can lead to extraordinary success, ultimately encouraging others to pursue their dreams unapologetically.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:10Obsession isn't what Charlotte Tilbury does, it's who she is. When I started Aspire, I knew I had to talk to Charlotte. From a young girl dreaming out loud to creating a billion dollar beauty empire, Charlotte Tilbury is here to give you the brand building secrets that works for her. In this conversation, Charlotte shares how obsession, belief and relentless focus can build something the world told you wasn't possible. But behind that success is a story few people ever hear.
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2:45It has something for your someones, the people who make life joyful, stressful, hilarious, and unforgettable. For me, that means picking out a gorgeous espresso maker for my coffee-obsessed best friend, a sleek new watch from my uncle who just landed a new job, and the softest cashmere for my mum because cosy is basically her love language. And yes, maybe a little something for myself too. Right now, Macy's Black Friday sale makes it even easier to check everyone off your list. You can save 50 % on select beauty products from Tarte and Kiehl's, get up to$150 off appliances from Ninja, Breville and KitchenAid and even find deals on cashmere sweaters, throws and scars through November 29th.
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3:44Charlotte Tilbury. Darling, Emma Greed. Darling, I am so happy to have you here. Words can literally not explain. Oh God, this was hard. Hard to get in, I'm not going to lie, love. You are one busy woman. she says to another busy lady I know I know it's mad but thank you thank you thank you so much for not giving up on me and making it happen because I was so excited I was so excited I was like I have to make this happen because you are amazing and I'm obsessed with your podcast I love you for saying that I mean listen day one out the gate I was like I made a list of all the business women I was like it has to be Charlotte and I think there's so much thank you so much I feel so honoured honestly you should like you should feel honoured but you should also know that we've been dying to chat with you I think there are so many people that are just desperate to know more about your story.
4:28And I feel like in some kind of crazy way, like I grew up in the fashion industry, knowing so much about you. It was like, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. So I was like in the proximity. I knew I was in the proximity of greatness, but so many people that listen to this show are dreaming about building something of their own and you've done that. But that kind of leap from idea to execution can feel completely impossible for people. So today, I really want to dig into your background, exactly how you did it, and to understand like what was the dream? How did it happen? What was the dream?
5:02How did it happen? How did it all come to fruition? So the first question that I've got for you is, I want to understand like the first concrete step that you took to building Charlotte Tilbury, because as I understand it right now, you're the president, the chief creative officer, and the chairman of Charlotte Tilbury. Did you plan it to be that way? It started with me wanting to be a makeup artist. You know, I think at a very early age, kind of understanding that that's what I wanted to do. And I wanted to hone my craft on everyone else's dime. Charlotte, for those people that don't understand how fashion works and don't potentially know so much about your background, you were like a backstage makeup artist.
5:39You were right at the top of your game, but you were the person that would come to the show, create all of the looks. You'd be backstage yourself in charge of the overall, like creative direction of the makeup. And then you gravitated into like this consultancy role where people were using you to actually help develop their own lines. Exactly. Their own lines. Exactly. So I'd had this career as a kind of world's top makeup artist, sort of, you know, where we kind of knew each other. And then ended up sort of being a creative consultant for, you know, with Tom Ford, which is amazing. I mean, he's such a kind of legend and I love working with him.
6:12And then Helena Rubensline and Giorgio Armani and Mac and Alexander McQueen. Those were just kind of some of the products. Working with all the labs, creating blue sky development, coming up with concepts, ideas, and leaving a lot of kind of amazing bestsellers in my way. But at the same time, having a project, which I called the Ibiza Project, which was a book that I kept with all the kind of, when I just saw this massive gap in the industry where people come up to me and say, oh my God, I want to look like, you know, whoever, Penelope Cruz or Kate Moss, whoever I was working with. And I would always feel that they couldn't get the look or I didn't quite have the products.
6:44I was like, fine for me, because I was sitting there with mixing media. Yeah, you were a mixer and a blender, right? Exactly, and a blender trying to get the kind of right products to kind of make it happen. But I couldn't just give them those products or get the look. And I also felt that they said, oh, I could never look like that. And that made me feel actually, no, no, no, you don't, we don't, everyone doesn't come from a different planet of celebrities. They know the power of makeup. They know how, you know, that can make them look and feel. And I wanted to kind of decode that and demystify it and give it to everyone.
7:11And so I came up with the kind of concept of my brand, which was basically a very obvious idea. And I always think the best idea is sparkle in simplicity. And so it was, you know, and it was get the look. It was like 10 looks. And the fact that when you think about people, actually there was something that, you know, we're both, you and I are both dyslexic, but that kind of understanding of actually pattern recognition. Yes. I'm really good. I'm sure you're really good at pattern recognition. You realize over decades. Who you were. Exactly. Who are the different looks. So 34 years of experience now, a kind of like a data kind of algorithm that I've just sort of, by osmosis, sort of sucked into this library.
7:46Having worked with so many people with kind of, you know, different hair color, different skin tone, different eye color, different, you know, all these amazing, brilliant visionaries and creatives that I have the privilege and honor to have worked with. And all of this has sort of gone into my kind of brain. And then you sort of realize you end up sort of, it sort of spits that out, a kind of pattern recognition and an algorithm of this kind of library of data that is in my brain. Which is unbelievable. Which is, which is what, and that's why I kind of, you know, I've been doing this for 34 years.
8:10having been kind of, you know, arguably one of the world's top makeup artists, doing the fashion shows, working on the kind of runway couture red carpet, which again, an editorial, which was quite a rare career because as you know, you were one of very, very few. What I'd like to understand is when did you know it was time to launch your own thing? Because to my mind, like, did you? Always knew, always knew, always knew from a young child. I remember telling my parents, I was like, I was like, I'm going to create a brand. They're like that, like, oh, darling, marvelous. But yeah, and I always knew that that's what I wanted to do, but I wanted to hone my craft and then go on to do it.
8:47I think, I mean, I had to learn a few lessons along the way. I think kind of, you know, I wasn't, you know, you go from being a makeup artist to being an entrepreneur, to being the founder, kind of president, you know, chief creative officer of my company and creating what I've created today, which is, you know, the biggest beauty empire ever to have existed in the UK and a global brand. And, you know, it's like, and I'm ashamed. You're so proud of yourself when you say that. I am proud of myself. You should be. I am proud of myself. I am because, you know, it ain't always easy, but it's really rewarding and it's really great.
9:17We're going to talk about that. Yeah. So you are, so let me just paint the picture. You're at the top of your game at this point, right? You really, really are. Yeah. And you're carrying around the Ibiza book, which is your book of everything that you believe is needed. You've created the archetypes. Where did you go? Before you had investors, before you had staff, like, what did you do? So I've gone off, I've kind of honed my craft, 40 fashion shows season, around the world, red carpet, editorial, couture, doing it all, right? That's a very rare career, number one. Very. So because most artists are either one or the other or not all three.
9:51Then I have gone off and become a creative consultant to some of the biggest houses, luxury houses in the world and created some of the best selling products. And everything pretty much I did kind of sold out. How were you remunerated over there? Like if you're making some of the best selling products in the world, were you seeing your product selling and going, oh, that was a nice, I don't want to see fit. I loved that. And still some of them today. I mean, I, you know, I was, I was paid extremely well, but I didn't have equity in those brands. And I was like, and that was fine. You know, for me, I was also holding back also, I was somebody else's vision that I was working for.
10:23So it would bring my, my brilliance to it and my, my craft and my know-how and my expertise of quality and formula and design and ergonomics, et cetera. But to a certain degree, because it was their house and to a certain degree, their budget, what labs they wanted to work with, what kind of efficacy. I was like, fine, if you want to take it to a certain level, that's fine. I'm going to keep the best for moi. I'm going to keep the best for me. All right, so you've had this extraordinary career. You're working for the best houses in the world. And then you're like, you have the book. So I'm working with the best houses in the world.
10:56I've got this vision that I'm always going to go and create my own brand. that I am just honing my craft by doing what I'm doing. I get to the point where I'm like, okay, it's now I've got to do it. After having some of these amazing consultancies with some of the great houses, I had to grow up and be a businesswoman. So I slightly got messed around. And then, but then I was like, right, you need to grow up and become a businesswoman. But when you've got to kind of be a lawyer, you've got to be able to be an accountant. You've got to be able to do it all. You've got to be able to understand and read a P &L.
11:23You've got to go through every single clause. You've got to read everything because, and I am a bit of a control freak. So in a way, I was like, that was part of the journey to kind of becoming a businesswoman. And I think I have this tin shed that I kept basically, this with the hysterical tin shed where I would keep the Ibiza project, which I wrote about the kind of, I looked at the really kind of the end-to-end consumer journey because I'm obsessed with the consumer as we all are. And you and I are very good consumers. So we're kind of naturally kind of hardwired that way. I really thought about what was missing in the beauty space.
11:54The world was so ripe for disruption. Five conglomerates owned the world. Everyone told me I was mad. Everyone told me that, you know, I couldn't do it. That, you know, five people owned the world and that was just the way it was. And things were done the way that they were for like 100 years. And I was like, it's ripe for disruption. And also having been an expert at what I do at the top of my game, seeing what was missing for the consumer, seeing the white space that was out there in the market, seeing that when I went into the shops, it was confusing, you know, demystifying. It wasn't easy to choose.
12:22It wasn't easy to use. it wasn't easy to gift and just reimagining that whole end to end 360 journey for the consumer and I think just there is that thing of you know I really kind of live by feel the fear and do it anyway that kind of fearless if a belief you know a total belief and I'm also a big believer in uh you know um creative visualization I kind of yeah I do I do that all the time so I wrote my business plan I had my tin shed I had my Ibiza project I imagined who helped you did you have anyone with you at that point or was this just you so i had so creatively i had done all of my kind of you know i basically i had my tin shed i had the kind of ibiza project where i i had literally imagined what the counters would look like what the products were i mean still the products did it look like how the counters look with those like 10 faces in the beginning that's so crazy that was it for me as soon as i saw those 10 looks i was like no i need five no i need six i need all 10 exactly you need all 10 you need all 10 you need a makeup project yeah You need a makeup wardrobe.
13:22And also technology. Like at the time, I really kind of had this vision of, could we create this amazing app? But actually, augmented reality wasn't the place I wanted to be. So my kind of vision of where I wanted beauty tech to be wasn't really there all those years ago. But it's all written down in this book. And then I go and find, through this great friend of mine, Isabella Cordell and Marcus Siri, I find actually this guy who helped Tamara Menon, I think, write her business plan. So then he sat with me and we went through all the labs, wrote the business plans. And I started to understand the P &L, how it worked, what it was.
13:53And you brought him on as a consultant? He was just a consultant. He helped you write the plan? Yeah, he just helped me write the plan. But then you write your own plan because you have to understand it. You know your labs, you know your cost of goods. And then I went out to market and basically raised money. Ultimately, I backed myself. I put a lot of my own money into this brand. I backed myself. And I didn't really take a salary for the first few years of the brand. Take me back to that part because I feel like that's where people get so stuck. They don't know where to start. And you were able to just go, was it easy for you to raise money?
14:24How did you raise that first check? I mean, I think I didn't have a track record as a businesswoman, but I had a track record of being a beauty. I was kind of a beauty entrepreneur at that point. I suppose it was like I was a makeup artist that had created best-selling products. And I had a lot of best-selling products by a lot of the top brands in the market. The word in the fashion community was that like these things that we were all using were developed by you. and that you very much was someone who was like super innovative and was just crying out for your own brand. So I think if you were somebody that just didn't know you that well but knew you by reputation alone, there was this like thing that was kind of happening and sizzling around and quite honestly, people were probably lining up to give you money.
15:06But did you experience it like that? Was it easy for you to go out and race? I mean, it's not like I knew a huge amount of the investment community at the time. I'm obviously one now, knows everyone. but you know at the time I didn't and you go and see a few people and they're just like they don't really kind of believe and they don't really get it but then I was just like idiots if they don't get it because it's going to be huge then I had this amazing investor actually Marcus who I loved who actually was one with me on the journey all the way this was this was like your first investor yeah he was my lead investor how much did you have to raise in the beginning like I just want to understand like did you have to go and raise tens of millions of dollars no I didn't no I didn't it was like about a million pounds at the beginning but it's like wasn't it was it wasn't a lot of money.
15:44But then we raised money every single year. Wow. So we raised money because, and that's how I ended up owning so much of the brand because I was like, I'm not giving away, you know, I put, I backed myself. I put a lot of my own money into it, but then we grew so fast. I always knew how fast we would grow. I don't think anyone really quite realized how fast we would grow from day one. It was just like, it was a runaway success. It was a runaway success. And I think that's what everybody remembers. But so then you had to keep raising like year after year after year. How did you manage to keep hold of the business considering you had to go out and keep raising money, you do it.
16:16I mean, you know, I, it's like now I kind of, I mean, I still work. I'm still incredibly passionate about what I do. I kind of work, you know, we both work around the clock because we love it because we're passionate about it. And, you know, obsessed, I would say, you know, I remember every summer holiday, I'd be still raising money. It was like through my summer holidays, it was like, I was probably raising money. And then you kind of do it all kind of, you know, you sort of get to that point where you realize, okay, we need another injection because actually the growth is so big and the opportunity is so big.
16:41But I'm glad I did it like that because I managed to hold on so much of the company. I mean, it's so smart. And then we bought Silicon Valley in about Herb Sequoia in about when we were about half a billion. And then kind of, you know, from then on, we sort of, they came in. And then that was a game changer because it was like my whole kind of beauty tech vision of how I saw the beauty industry going and in giving a consumer what she wants, where she wants. When I was reimagining this whole end-to-end journey, this cycle of what did I disrupt in the beauty industry? What was the white space that I saw?
17:08and what it was was that when a consumer would go into the shop, it was A, confusing. It was five conglomerates on the world. You didn't know what to choose. You didn't know what to use. It was a very homogenized space. It was like everything looked the same. Everything was black, homogenized. There was no personality. There was no backstage. There was no bring me into my world, excite me, have fun, delight me, retail theater. It had all been taken away. And you could see that. And I could see that. And I was like, what happened to retail theatre? Where's the fun gone? And then I thought about all these women that would say to me, I wish I could look like celebrities or the supermodels you'd make up.
17:46And I was like, okay, so that's when I realised, you know, I came up with the whole kind of vision of the archetypes. And I realised that that was really my kind of, the algorithm in my brain, the pattern recognition of realising over and over looking at people being like, oh, here we go again, it's a golden goddess. It's like, it's that type of woman. So it's that type of archetype. Did you find that difficult to explain to people? because again, in creative and beauty, you know, lifestyle spaces, there's less understanding, I imagine, in the financial community for them to actually like grasp your ideas.
18:15How did you make your ideas understood? Because typically I imagine that you were pitching men who are not the end user of your product. So how did you actually go into those spaces and give everybody the belief that you were really going to build something meaningful? I'm going to pitch yours almost as if you are them. Yeah, go on. So, we're doing a sharp tent. We're doing a sharp tent. Okay, let's go. All right, let's go. It's an overcrowded space. It's ripe for disruption. Five people own the world. It's not easy to choose. It's not easy to choose. You've got a bunch of consumers that don't think they can look like certain celebrities.
18:48I'm an expert. I'm now seeing an opportunity to come up with some of these incredible innovation, incredible quality of products that don't exist in the market, so they aren't out there for consumers. And to make products that are quick and easy, speedy, easy makeup, up, coming up with new categories in makeup and reinventing categories in makeup. So I reinvented powder, I reinvented setting spray, and I invented glow category in beauty. So all of these products are missing. Then if you think about the consumer, when they go into a store, they can't find what they do. They'll know what suits me.
19:20What do I choose? How do I get a look? What lipstick goes with? What blush with? What eye makeup? So I immediately bring all of my expertise of all the red carpet, all the celebrities, all the models. I put it into 10 looks. I bring my backstage to the front stage, which basically I turn it into kind of, you know, my incredible merchandising, my shop. So as a consumer then walks in, it's easy to choose, it's easy to choose. And when they get home, I then reimagine the technology. Yes. And so I'm then doing tutorials on every single product. I then have ended up creating, I now have a CDO and I end up creating an amazing beauty app where, you know, give the customer what she wants, where she wants.
19:53So now we bring the shop to you. We do virtual try-ons. The dermatologists come up with a kind of AI that reads your skin. Bringing the shop to the consumer, giving the consumer what she wants, where she wants, however she wants it, and making it easy for her. But with the most luxurious, incredible products that are so easy, my 10-year-old son could do it. And I was obsessed with kind of crazy things. I looked around and I thought McDonald's was just genius. It was time is money, speedy, easy, quick looks. And I was like, that's so clever. And I just looked around and I was like, Apple Steve Jobs.
20:26I was like, he's just so brilliant. I like everything. The ergonomics of everything he created, the slickness, the ease of use, everything in the palm of your hand. So like, I was inspired by so many things outside of beauty. I love that. And I think that type of thinking, it was nothing to do with beauty. It was just imagining outside of beauty and then having my real expertise of blue sky thinking of when I was working with the laboratories and I came up with so many bestsellers that they then said, please, will you innovate with us on just blue skies thinking and formulas. I'm obsessed with customer need states.
20:58No, but I think it's so obvious that you are obsessed with customers. Like you said that you built things that like just didn't exist. And I'm interested to understand like the first gap you were obsessed with filling, like how did you know that that was a need and that was something that customers would go after, especially when like it doesn't exist? Okay. So you look around and you would go, Instagram filters, right? You're like, okay, I need an Instagram filter. I'm on the red carpet. it. I'm here with like whoever, Salma Hayat, whatever. And you're like, I need an Instagram filter. On the face.
21:29On the face, in the bottle, in harsh daylight, that's going to perform speedy, easy, and it's going to look fabulous because women have no time. For me, I'm always looking at the world. Where is the economic state of the world? What are people going through? What do they need? What is the, because it's all a reflection of everything that's going on. It's all interlinked. It's all interlinked. It's totally interlinked. So I think you realize what's happening in the world. Is it kind of people are seeing filters? There are different types of filters. They're kind of like, they want to glow. They want to, they're on a beach, but it's in January.
21:56What do they want? What do women want? And actually always thinking a lot of consumers, like when I created Hollywood Flawless Filter, which was this amazing glow that had never existed. It was a, it was a revolutionary product in the market. And actually I remember at the time, some of the retailers were like, they were into it, but they were like, oh, I'm not sure. I'm like, cause when you, when you're disrupting and innovating, you have to sometimes really sell in your idea. And they're like, okay, you listen, crazy lady, You say stuff that works and then it works and then it sells out. Well, okay, we'll go with you.
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22:24Well, I was like, Pillow Talk, you know, I was like, Pillow Talk. Now that kind of, you know, Hollywood Flawless Filter sells like one every two seconds. And Pillow Talk was a kind of a color that is now the world's number one lipstick and the world's number one lip liner. And it was a, you know, can you imagine? It was just a pinky nudey color that I had just obsessed forensically over lips and the pigment in lips. And I was like, but it's a color that had never existed before. And so, and then it just goes, you know, it goes like a viral whisper. and then you're selling one every two seconds.
22:50But it's that forensic examination of what do women want? What do women need? What do they wish they had? Where's the consumer? Where are they dreaming? I always say I'm selling pots of dreams and making dreams come true.
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25:46Where do you get the inputs from? I'm very interested in that because how do you know that what everybody is going to want is like super shine? How do you know that that's the exact right shade? Is that like a gut decision? Is that taking input from trend? Where does that part come? No, actually, I'm very intuitive, but I'm constantly scanning. My brain is like a scanner. So I'm constantly, whatever I'm doing, whether I'm scrolling on Instagram, whether I'm meeting people, whether I'm meeting consumers, whether I'm looking at kind of just life on every level. It's not that I go to a trend book and suddenly discover it, because I was like, then you know you're already late to the party.
26:19If it's in the book, it's over. It's over. So I'm obsessed with the fact that you are the chairman and the chief creative officer. I mean, it's pretty nuts. conscious decisions that you've made? Did it just end up like that? Like, are you just an obsessive? I think I am a bit of a control freak and I have to understand every single part of my business. And I've grown my business from zero to where it is today. And it's a big business. You know, we're kind of three, yeah, it's business with 3000 people with four and a half thousand points of distribution around the world. So it's like, it's not a small business.
26:55When you've grown something from zero to where it is today. You have been in supply chain, in legal, in obviously product development always, marketing always, but your leadership team, your business, your vision, your mission, your strategy. And I think you don't grow something to this level unless you are forensically all over the detail. And I just kind of think any great founder really has sort of built that is top down, bottom up. And I think that's, it's like I've, when I sit around my leadership team and you know that's grown and changed over the years sometimes they'll say oh no we can't do that I'm like no no I know you can because I did that job and I know how long that takes and I'm very intuitive with things my gut is always right I literally I just it's it's even when I'm looking at the P &L like I tell you there's always room for improvement how can you improve your cost of goods etc whatever it is but you're looking at something and then it would just be like something will take me to can you I want to interrogate that my CFO always says you always asking the most difficult question.
27:54We were going to double prepare when we were with you. I absolutely love that. But where did that come from? Because obviously, you know, working backstage as a makeup artist, like that is not what your skill set is, right? So how did you actually learn? I talk to a lot of young founders that say, I'm not good with the numbers. I don't understand the financials. What did you do to learn it? I think for me, it was just basically like, well, how difficult can this be? I'm not stupid. We're not stupid. I'm quite obsessed with numbers. So I kind of, so maybe, but to a certain point, right? Okay, to a certain point.
28:26And also being a bit of a control freak. So then I was just like, well, how difficult can this be? And I'm never afraid to sound stupid. I don't care. I'm like, I want to go, why? I'm always like, who, what, why, where? Why, why, why, why? I never start asking those questions. I'm like, because I'm genuinely fascinated and interested. So there's a deep curiosity, but there is no shame with you. You don't mind looking stupid. No, I don't mind. I don't care. I don't care. And by the way, half the time when people go on about an abbreviation, I'm like, what does that actually mean? What does that mean?
28:54And then they can't even tell you anyway. What's the LTV and CSR? They can't tell you anyway. They can't remember. They can't remember. Hysterical. But I think that that's really important because, again, I think that a lot of female founders feel like they need to know everything and that they should be across everything. And what you're saying is, what you didn't know, you learned, and then you asked a lot of questions. What you didn't know, exactly. What you don't know, you learn. And by the way, you won't stop learning until the day you die. Now with AI, with the consumer changing it as it is, as it is.
29:21I'm like, I can build my three-year plans, you know, get out my P &Ls, look at my strategy, look at my distribution, create my marketing, create my products. And then I've got to trade my business because trading your business right now, that consumer is changing every goddamn week. Every day. Exactly. So it's every day. It's like, and you've got to meet them. So you've got to trade, you've got to talk to them, you've got to pivot, you've got to be agile, you've got to move. And that's the thing, this, you know, even though we're really big, we might be, we have lots of juxtapositions in the brand where it's kind of, you're like a heritage brand but you're like an indie brand but you're you know the agility of an indie brand but people think of me because I've been in the fashion industry and beauty industry for 34 years they think of me as a heritage very interesting positioning exactly and then it's like but I'm it's founder expert led but it's fun and it's chic but it's shouting you know like I you know in terms of like the fun that we have with the marketing the luxury position of it but the inclusivity and the kind of you know it's all these juxtapositions in the best that we kind of that we're that you've been able to play with and that you've been able to really own to some degree Yeah.
30:19I design my packaging. I design, I have an amazing team, by the way, that I kind of dream team. I couldn't have done it without my team. In the early days, if you take me back to those early days and it's you and you have, you know, the guy that helped with the business plan, you go out and you raise that first tranche of money. You know what products you want to do. You have this big, big vision. Who did you bring in then? I'm really interested to understand what moves you made that really helped you like get this brand off the ground. And if there are things that you might have done differently.
30:48I don't think I regret anything. I think actually, I think some of the mistakes are fantastic sometimes. I think about, you know, wanting to get my brand off the ground before I got my brand off the ground. And I kind of worked with somebody who, you know, promised me to sort of do my brand. It kind of, it didn't really work out. Aren't you so glad that didn't work? And I'm like, thank you so much. I learned so much from you. And I wasn't ready to be that businesswoman that I became. Was that a hard recovery for you, Charlotte? When you could see, oh, my brand's about to happen and then it didn't, like, was that difficult?
31:19You know what? I'm very good at dusting it off and just getting back up very quickly. How do you do that? Because that's another place where I feel like people really falter. They think if they fail, that it's finite, that they can't go again. How did you pick yourself up and say, all right, I'm going to give this another crack? Because I'm a great believer in you write your future. You write your future. And I'm a great believer in quantum thinking. I'm a great believer in creative visualisation. I have unwavering self-belief. I do, but we're all human. we're going to be challenged. We're going to be challenged.
31:49But in the face of adversity, you have to literally just be like, I believe and I'm never going to give up. I'm going to stay focused. There's a reason. The reason the universe is doing this to me is they're putting this in my path. What do I need to learn? Where do I need to grow up? What do I need to do? Which way do I need to pivot? What do I need to look at? What am I not looking at? What am I not meeting? And I believe that adversity is put there to take us to where we need to go. And if you have big dreams and I have big dreams, you know, I'm like, I'm like unapologetically, let's conquer the world.
32:20You know, why not? If you had that, well, then you're going to have to kind of, you're going to be thrown curve balls and, you know, situations that you're going to have to kind of navigate to get to where you want to go to. But I believe that if you stay as optimistic and positive, then you will get to where you need to get to. And those are the building blocks that are put in place that are necessary for you to pivot and change and be agile to get to where you need to get to. A million percent. I mean, you don't have a billion dollar brand without that type of thinking. Like that's clear. Do you think there's something that has made you very different from a lot of your contemporaries that have started brands?
32:55Because as you say, you really are considered like a legacy brand. I don't feel any different buying a... I'm only 12 years old. I I could go into Sephora tomorrow and pick up, you know, a Salon lipstick or, you know, whatever brand and pick up yours. I feel exactly the same value there. Well, better value, actually. Sorry, love you. Sorry, babes. She is consumer obsessed, clearly. Actually, I'm free down to shoot her, but anyway. Oh, no. The reason why is the quality. It's the quality and performance because I can come up with the best marketing in the world. I can get the best investment. and I can get the kind of the best position in the shop.
33:34At the end of the day, product is queen. That's it. And it comes down to the quality, the performance, the innovation. And then it's how you take that to market. So you think that you make better products than everyone else? Yeah, I do. I do my quality, my quality, my performance. It really is, it's known in the industry. I am known as like leading innovation in this industry. Wish some of them had more ideas. Be lovely. I'll take that. I'm like, how'd you first? I'm like, oh my God. You're like, come on everyone, come on me. All the time. The way that I test it, sometimes I've got 800 women testing foundations on them.
34:09You know, sometimes I've got things, I mean, my laboratories, they go, oh my God, you're like, your standards are ridiculous. I'm like, no, I'm exacting. I'm a perfectionist as much as I can be. How did you do that in the early days? Like when you couldn't like, you know, have a testing company testing 800 women, we got models in, but you know, we had all of our artists. So maybe we weren't testing 800, which we are now when we create a huge line of foundations, but we when we even when we had our 10 looks at the beginning we were still testing on maybe like 20 30 50 cohort kind of you know groups of women was that important to you in the beginning really important but also it is important to me because don't forget i also have tested on thousands of women so i have an algorithm in my brain that has captured eye color skin tone hair color like literally thousands and thousands and thousands of faces data in my mind so i just know do you what I mean?
34:56Like by looking at someone, what colors they need, what color skin tone, that's undertone, overtone. That's already embedded in this algorithm of my brain, like a life. But I love that you say that, Charlotte, because your success, right? You've got the success of a brand that feels like it's been in the market for 50 years and it's only been 12, but it's actually everything that came before that. It's all of the experience. It's all of those backstages. It's all of that consultancy. It's every individual face. It's every little thing that you've done with your hands that led you to being able to be this successful now because you were excellent at what you did.
35:31Exactly. And that's what I said. So I said I was going to be the best makeup artist. I was going to work with the best selling products in my way. I was going to create the best brand with the best quality. I'm going to find the best laboratories. I mean, my scientists are probably going to be like, oh no, not her because she's such a perfectionist. We'll be here for 20 years. And I tell you, some products, I've been working with some of these labs for 20 years because I was working before my brand with other things. And I'm like, we're still there, like blue sky for me. And who knows? But if they'll be ready to, you know, before I die, if we'll even create some of them.
35:57Because, you know, you have these crazy visions. It's whether, again, whether the science will catch up with your vision. Yes, yeah. Talk to me a little bit about leadership because you don't get to where you are with the size of company you have without being an incredible leader. And it's very clear to me that creatively, you've got it. We might not be able to put our exact finger on it, but it's like from all the work you've done, your gut, it's like that is clear. Charlotte is a creative genius in her space. But when it comes to running a business, it takes something very different. And I wonder if you would share maybe like a leadership lesson that you've learned, something that you've learned the hard way.
36:32I was like, let's rip up the rule book. This industry was ripe for disruption. It was done a certain way. Why do we have to do it a certain way? Why can't you, when I would go to Selfish's and be like, I want the kind of Apple, the store that Apple has or the store that Kusama, the artist or LVMH, why can't I have it? I've got a dream. And so I would sell them in a dream and a vision of what I wanted. And I just don't understand the concept of no. I understand the concept of ripping up the rule book, rewriting history, but you've got to outcreate and you've got to outthink. You cannot just be whiny and say, I want this because I'm fabulous.
37:07No, you have to outcreate and outthink. You have to innovate and disrupt. So I have a North Star equation that sort of really is my mission and vision really for how I kind of run the business. And that is basically product, tech, talent, community, media. When you talk about your North Star, that's what you wake up thinking about? That's what I wake up thinking about the whole time because it's basically that customer journey. It's like, what product am I delivering? What content am I delivering to basically get through to my consumer? What talent am I talking to? Influence am I talking to, you know, communities, celebrities?
37:40Who am I talking to? The media, how am I kind of using that media? What form of media, what platforms, how am I disseminating that? How am I using that? What am I doing? Everything you do has to be through that lens because how you're doing that kind of end-to-end consumer journey of developing a product to kind of using all of those different mediums. And so when you think about leadership lessons and the people that have helped you along the way, what does that really look like? Like how did you build a team that can create a billion dollar beauty brand. Maria's been in product development with me.
38:13I mean, she's been with me for 20 years, 20 years, 20 years. I mean, so many people have been with me for so, so many years. And what's it look like right in the beginning? I think some people you take and you train them because it's like, it has a very particular voice, this brand. I mean, you're obviously kind of, you know, there's me kind of at the face of it, but it's like, I've got a very particular language, you know, style, the look and feel of the brand. Totally. You know, it's got a very particular signature and vision. So when you come here, the way I want to sort of speak to my consumers, the way I'm not a faceless conglomerate, I'm a live person, I'm an expert, an innovator, I'm a disruptor, I want to be agile, I want to think if you're going to sit around my leadership table, we have to think in that way where you're like, yes, you're a large company, but you've got to think like an agile disruptor, you've got to keep on innovating.
38:58So there's a business ethos to my brand, which is all about disrupt, innovate, embrace the challenge, you know, share the magic, win together. I love that. And that it's really the mentality and the ethos of what you're going to be here. We have to kind of, because the consumer is changing all the time. I'm sort of unapologetically demanding of myself, maybe, and other people. I kind of feel like if you're here that I attract these sort of amazing entrepreneurs, these kind of, they've all got that entrepreneurial your spirit they always they've got all got the passion they've all got that kind of drive to do something to leave their mark in the world and they are brilliant and I really do have an incredible team I have to say I do work with some of the best people in the industry and I'm incredibly grateful and honored to be working with them because it does take that kind of everyone's very passionate that works you know with me what does it take to come and work with you like what are you looking really good at your job
39:58basically basically it says you gotta be really really really good at your job that's just it i mean it's not that difficult no it's not that difficult you really do like and it's known it's known like if you work here you are really good because you have exacting standards yeah i listen if you've got a mission to take over the world and create the best quality products on the market and you want to disrupt and innovate, you've already shown up with your A game, right? Constantly. Constantly. Yeah. I demand that of myself. You demand that of yourself. And the people, they naturally are like that.
40:28They're so brilliant. They come up, they are, that they're sort of, they are inspired. They are excited. They're passionate. They want to show up with their A game. They want to kind of deliver this brilliance as well. So I think that is very much the kind of the culture that I have fostered at the company. I'm really lucky to have such amazing people working with me. that same mentality, they really go the extra mile, you know, and they really care. And you must have had times where you get people that are not that great at their job, that don't care that much, that don't exhibit the passion.
40:58And again, as a female leader, sometimes it can be difficult to let go of, you know, people that you had in the early days, the people that got you to that kind of 100 million, 200 million, 500 million for you. How have you dealt with the change of what, you know, I'm envisaging, there are people that have been with you for 20 years, but not everybody stays on that journey. No, not everyone stays on that journey. I mean, I think, listen, some people grow with you and that's fantastic. And they want, you know, as it gets bigger, the company, they've got to embrace the challenge. They've got to kind of grow, you know, they've got to...
41:28Everyone needs to start their game. Some people want to do it and some people don't. And that's okay. Sometimes, you know, maybe you've given people the wrong title sometimes, and maybe you've realized that they don't want to, you know, you just keep on moving. You just keep on moving. You keep on moving. And you don't look back? don't look back and don't regret I think you learn learn from your mistakes as I said before you kind of you know mistakes can be there in a way that are kind of fabulous and you learn from them where did you decide in your business that you have certain strengths but you needed other people to come in how did you identify those decisions and how did you bring people in in the early days well I think you know basically so I had you know my amazing lead investor Marcus who is brilliant I think the person that has made the biggest difference to me would be my CFO I I have to say he really having the wrong CFO, which I definitely had at one point was difficult.
42:18Yeah. And having the right CFO is, can game change your business because, you know, it's game changing when you look at that, when you're going to that P &L and you're being able to kind of, you know, you know, really get your margin to exactly where you need it to be and all the opportunities. I mean, I always say the health of your business is in the numbers, right? Everything is in the numbers. Everything's in the numbers. Everything's in the numbers. It's not about innovation. It's not about product. It's in the numbers. It's in the numbers. And I think having that and having, you know, a great team around me in terms of that, that's been really helpful because we're only one person, even though I kind of feel like I could do everything.
42:49You've got to go to - 100%. You're just one person. You're just one person. But everyone around me, I have to say, I've got brilliant people in product development, brilliant people in packaging, brilliant people in, you know, again, my CFO, but I am all over it with them. And I want to kind of, you know, be very detailed in the business and asking those questions and really understanding it and being, but I think you have to, because I think art and commerce, this whole business is, it's, I don't see creativity as one thing, numbers as another thing. It's art and commerce. They are soulmates.
43:17They feed in together. And you have to think, I think in a very kind of left, right brain way. And I sort of switch hats quite often. So I'll be looking at something with my creative hat, and then I'll be looking through at my commercial hat, and I'll be looking through at my merchandising hat, you know, just lots of different hats of the way that I scan things, look at things. But that's wonderful, Charlotte, because I think that again, so many people that say, I'm a creative, and then somebody else has to do everything else. And I don't think as a founder, you get that privilege. It's like, you got to wear multiple hats, and you've got to have an understanding and an appreciation.
43:48And it's very, very clear to me that what you've done so amazingly is be this like, incredible creative that's learned enough about all the other facets of their business. You're doing supply chain right at the beginning, right? You're doing everything. You're talking to legal, you're doing finance, legal, supply chain, product development, marketing. I mean, you're doing everything, right? So it's like every part of it, then you have this tiny team that then you grow and then you grow and you grow and you grow and you get bigger and bigger. But when you have exacting standards, when you are consumer obsessed, when you are looking at what innovating and disrupting, what is the need state of a consumer?
44:21When you are, when you love challenge, challenge is opportunity. And I love being challenged. Like that's, I very much foster that kind of culture of the brand as well. I love anyone for me has a great idea. I'm like, whether it's the intern or whoever, like, I'm just like, I'd love to hear what you have to say. And I love to be challenged by, I'm very unhierarchical as well. Can you be challenged in the business thing? I love to be challenged. My favorite thing is to be challenged because that's what I want because for me either, if I'm challenged, it either hones my argument or it makes me think differently.
44:53Because there's a reason I'm like, tell me why you don't think it will work or why you don't think it will work. So then it's like changes. It makes you think in a different way and that I find really exciting. How do you foster that culture? How do you foster a culture where the boss can be challenged? Oh god I love it. I'm like I literally know but I'm I invite that around the table. I think it's really important. I think it's like really really important and I'm not hierarchical in that way. No. You don't you don't you don't seem like that.
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49:18Do you think that you could do what you've done and feel what you've built again now? Yes. In this time? If you were starting today? Yeah, I do. I think, yeah, because there's even more opportunity now. I mean, you know, think about it. Social media was just starting when I started my brand. I always say, necessity is the mother of all invention. Oh, ain't it just? You know, and it's like, and again, whenever you look at that space, whenever you, the white space, whether it's even today, when you're, you know, So the reason I'm still so excited and so passionate about this brand is I can't, there's so much room to still innovate, disrupt, create, and whether or not some of those products will even be within my lifetime.
49:54But I'm doing something. I've got a pipeline. I'm excited about meeting the consumer. I'm excited about the technology of being able to give her what she wants, where she wants, through that. How do you stay this excited? Because it's so palpable with you. Like all these years later, you are this excited about what you do. I am so excited. How is that? I have disrupted the beauty industry. I have led the way for many beauty entrepreneurs. England never had a company. The Germans had it, the French had it, the Americans had it, but we never, we didn't have it. We didn't have it. We didn't have it.
50:25I want to create a great beauty empire. To do that is so exciting. And then to do it where it kind of went all the way around the world and kind of, you know, and the products resonate everywhere. And you have the number ones in each category. You have number one powder in the world or the number one lip liner, the number one powder or the number, you know, that is so exciting. You know what is more important to me than anything is the purpose behind my brand. It's the purpose behind my brand because the reason I really do it, yes, that's euphoric to kind of succeed in business. It gives you the most incredible feeling of gratitude.
50:54You know that feeling, Emma, that feeling of gratitude, the high I get. Having had this brand has given me unbelievable feelings of euphoric gratitude. You know, I've literally, it is so amazing, but that I am so grateful for. But actually the purpose behind it is to make everyone look and feel like the most beautiful, confident, empowered versions of themselves. Because if you can change that one person, that one person, you change your community, you change your world. It's like the reason people make it in life and don't make it is confidence. It is confidence. And it's the beauty. It's just, it's so underrated.
51:31It's like, and it was so important to me to make people feel that it is not super, you know, to demystify it. and it is not superficial. At all. And it is, you know, that societal value of beauty is so, because we are the human race, we judge ourselves. We look in the mirror, we judge ourselves. Oh, you look tired, you look exhausted, you're this. Yeah, I'm going to have a good day, I'm going to have a bad day because of the way I look. Exactly. And to give people that, to give people that confidence, I, you know, all the stories that, you know, I get from so many people who I've met and, you know, these thousands of people now that I meet everywhere and they, you know, out at parties, DM me, write to me, kind of whatever, all these gorgeous customers.
52:07has really changed their life. And whether it's cling to a pillow talk lipstick that just made them feel, you know, that confidence, that empowerment to be able to manifest their dreams. You know, and if that is so important to me and people, it is so underrated how, you know, it's not about the makeup, the skincare or the fragrance. It's about the feelings. And it's about how people feel. And we want a world that is more positive and confident and happy and bringing joy to everyone. And that is why I am so passionate to this day to deliver that to people and give them things that they never thought they could.
52:43And coming from the world that I came from, which was working with all these amazing celebrities and VIPs and supermodels and everything and people just feeling, I can't be, I am less than. It's like, no, we are going to democratize this. We are going to make this easy for you. We are going to give you the tools to empower you to feel those feelings, to feel like the most beautiful, confident version of yourself. and that is the reason I am so passionate about doing this and the legacy and the mark I want to leave on this world to help people that feeling of when people come to you to say this has helped me change my life this has made me feel this way honestly I'm so grateful so grateful and so honoured I mean it shows I think it shows in everything you do I think it shows in every piece of content you put out in every like new product launch in everything that I own that is Charlotte Tilbury it feels no because I think it's really true.
53:32And, you know, we just had Simon Sinek on this show and he talks about, you know, so the guy that wrote Start With Why. And so it's so clear to me, you could put every brand in the world and split them down the middle and say, here are the brands that have an extremely clear why and here is everything else. And for me, Charlotte Tilbury is just, first of all, it's the living, breathing product embodiment of you as a person, right? Like your vision, you're this incredible strong woman you're so passionate about what you do but you have a why like you were doing all of these like things the shows the consultancy because you had a deep why inside you and you've just lifted that into your brand and I think that a lot of young founders really have to understand that it's got to be about so much more than just building a business making money figuring some product out totally like to be truly successful and to have the success that you've had for this long and to have so much runway in front of you, that comes from something much, much, much deeper.
54:35It's a purpose. It's a purpose. It's a purpose. It's the purpose. I didn't start this just to make money. Yes, money is a measure of your success. You know, money gets you respect in the business world. Money is a marker of that. But for me, it's a much bigger, higher purpose. and that is the reason. I think I've been blessed and I think that, you know, I have this incredible team and I've been able to create amazing things. Sometimes scientifically, they didn't think could happen. I've always had my parents sort of taught me this as a creative visualization, really as a child and that kind of belief mindset that you don't have to limit yourself, that you can think limitlessly, you can do anything you want in the world.
55:17And, you know, I remember, you know, working with one of the people I work with and they came in, I was like, you have to, I make everyone read the kind of, you know, the book, The Secret. I'm like, you have to believe in creative visualization. I do. So we've got a bit of a movement and a community. If you work here, I'm like, you've got to get rid of your limitations in your mind. We can do anything. That's very Natalie Massonet of you. Do not limit your... Does she do the same? Yes, absolutely. I know that. She was the one who gave me that book. Oh, my God. I love that. Literally, like creative visualization back in the day and then The Secret.
55:46And I was like, I am drinking this Kool-Aid. It worked for her. Hello. Exactly. Look at us. I was like, okay, girl. I'm on the bus. Go. I know. It's so funny. I want to talk to you about the thing that you're not driven by. Yeah. Money. Money. Money. I'm not driven by money. But the fact is, is that that is a measure of success and respect. So it's like, it's not that I'm not driven by it. It's like, of course, it's like, for me, it's very important. I'm like, if I'm going to build a dream, I want to be honoured for that dream. And I want to that marker of success. But the fact is, it's not only about money.
56:19It is a higher purpose. It is something that I want to make people believe that they could live a certain dream. Totally. That they didn't think that they could have. And deliver these pots of dreams that we're kind of, you know, selling them and making dreams come true. So, you know, I always say that. There are little pots of dreams that I'm selling pots of dreams, but making dreams and, you know, making them come true. I think it's very clear that you have a brand that's rooted in purpose. But of course you want to be successful and conquer the world. And it has to be kind of like... But let's talk about that because I have a lot of female founders on this show.
56:47And not that many that want to talk to me about money. And Charlotte, I like to talk about money. I think if you, you know, if we avoid the subject of money, it really avoids us. So let's get into it. You are essentially, you're estimated to be worth like, I don't know, 350 million pounds. That's pounds, not dollars. That's more. And I'm not going to ask you to do it. All wrong. She's like, wrong. She's like, I'm way more loaded than that. That's what she's going to, that's what she's saying, not saying. Okay. Here's the thing. You're not poor. You've made a few quid. And I really want to understand your relationship to money now, because when you're a global brand and when your name is associated with this big, like billion dollar brand, like things change a little bit and people change sometimes around you.
57:29And I wonder if anything has changed for you now that you've got a few quid. As I said before, money is a validation of your success, right? Which is, we love. You didn't grow up with loads of money though, right? No, I mean, my parents weren't poor, but it's like, it was like, fine. We had a kind of, you know, quite glamorous lifestyle, but it wasn't quite bohemian. It's like my grandparents were fairly wealthy. We won't go down that kind of one got disinherited, whatever. But, you know, so they kind of, you know, so I did have a fairly kind of bohemian, but quite glamorous lifestyle. So I think sometimes people try and charge you more money because it's you.
58:02It's like Tilbury tax. You're like, really? It's like, you know, but you know what? Why did my haircut just cost four grand? But the fact is, is you didn't build an empire by not being an astute businesswoman, right? So when they do try and do that, you're like, I know the price of milk. I know the price of what things cost. I have a budget for my kind of my home life as well as my business life. And I look through that P &L just as much. And I look through every single penny and make sure that it's working for itself. I love to be really generous. I, you know, I'm philanthropic. I do kind of support charities, you know, the King's Trust, which now you're an ambassador of, which is so amazing.
58:38I mean, lots of, you know, different kind of missions that obviously it's really important for me to give back if you're blessed in life and you're able to do that in the Clooney Foundation for Justice as well. I kind of work with them, which is amazing what they do. I think my main thing is I still have the same group of friends, right? My life hasn't really changed. I've got like, I'm really close to my family. I've got the same group of friends that I've always loved. Yes, I've made new ones and fabulous ones because I love people. I don't want to change, to be honest with you. I quite like just being me.
59:06I like to be feet firmly on the ground. You like to be feet firmly on the ground. Is there anything that having money has taught you about yourself? I don't feel any different. I genuinely don't. I like to be exactly the same. It's just who I am. I just, I don't want to feel like, why do you suddenly have to feel different because you have money? You know, it's like, why do you have to change? Why? Why do you have to do that? So why can't you just be the way you've always been? I mean, yes, you know, maybe someone, the builder wants to charge you more money for something, but, you know, well, that's going to be, you know, they can try but it's a no do you do you manage your own money I do manage my own money and I am also do have managers that kind of yes that work with me are you someone who is like are you a gambler at heart are you someone that like likes to keep and invest your money like is it something that you look at and you're like I need to make this money work for me or is that not a gambler I am not I you know I some some people might say I gambled creating this brand but for me it was very measured risk it wasn't kind of like I for me it was like well that's definitely going to happen.
1:00:04So I wouldn't say I'm not a gambler, but I'm a risk taker. When I take risk, it's very measured. Like if I'm really going to put something behind it. Now, when it comes to managing my money, you have people who manage your money because, you know, when you have a certain, you know, amount of wealth, then you kind of have to do that. So yeah, there are people, you know, but I do look at every single penny in my home life and in my work life. You know, the health of your life or your business or even your home life, the numbers will tell you. The numbers are going to tell you everything. And they will give you the opportunity.
1:00:37Exactly. They'll give you the opportunity. It's clear to me that your personality is such a huge part of who you are and what your brand is and how informed your brand is by like who you are at the very kind of heart of it. Do you feel like your individuality has been a superpower for you? I always think people should just be themselves. I don't understand this thing of imposter syndrome. I don't get it. My parents were quite visionary, I realized. They were like, they sort of sent me to a Rudolf Steiner school. They sent me to, you know, with a guy who actually taught us about astrophysics and quantum physics.
1:01:06I was like, when I was 11 years old, I'm like, it was really visionary. Yeah, really visionary. I was like, I was like, I love this book. I was like, I was 11. I was like, how do I even understand any of this? I didn't even know how I got it. It was crazy. Are you a similar type parent? I'm in England. They were in Ibiza. It was just a different time. Different time. Different time, different schools. But I do try to teach them like about, you know, you've got to believe in, you know, the kind of. self-fulfilling prophecy of the magical chain reaction of confidence and trying your best and just putting your best foot forward in life.
1:01:34And, you know, I do try and tell them about, talk to them about creative visualization and how to not limit themselves. That mentality of what my parents taught me was really important. I do try to instill that in them. Well, one of the teenagers doesn't really listen to me.
1:01:50So my parents were always like, be yourself. That was like their mantra. Don't try and be anyone else. And I think when you are growing up, you hang up with different crowds, maybe you try to kind of like be something you're not. And actually very quickly, they were just like, no, they were always like, always be honest. It kind of, honesty is the best policy. And I think that whole thing of when you are yourself and when you are honest, I think it really empowers you. Have you always had that confidence? I have pretty much always had that confidence. I think I was kind of born this way. Then my mother also always just, thank God, but I mean, as mother's student, she just told me I was fabulous.
1:02:23Thank God for mommy. She just said I was fabulous. So I believed her. I believed her. I am fabulous. My mom said I am. but you know when I listen to a lot of entrepreneurs you know Jimmy I think there's always one parent that tells you you're amazing you are a million percent right everyone who comes on this show and I think even in my own life you know it's like that a mum or a dad or someone who said listen you're special you need to like lean into that you know my mum always used to say Emma you know you're not better than anyone else but nor is anyone better than you and I really believed it I was like no one's better than me you know and growing up in England but there's such a class society in England but I never felt that because I was really taught that no one's better than me and so it's so important and I I think if you can be that someone in someone's life like how incredible because at the end of the day what your brand is doing is giving so many women that type of confidence and so I think it's really interesting that you were raised that way and it's so clear you sit with you for five minutes and you're like, you know, if you leave the room and people say anything, it's wow, what confidence she has.
1:03:33You know, when you think about confidence and individuality and it being a business trait and not just a personal trait, how do you think you've managed to weave that into your business so successfully? That's my premise. Life is about confidence. That's why I created this brand. It's why I do what I do. It's when people sit in my makeup chair and they put makeup on, I can see their confidence, their heart, they sit up straighter. You know about neuroplasticity. Like I have trained my mind. Darling, when you walk around with red hair, sweetie, it's like, I mean, darling, you know, you get teased, you get bullied, you get, but that's, you don't say, darling, you don't say.
1:04:09Exactly. So, you know, you'll have your kind of, you stand out, like you always stand out. I've always stood out. That can be positive and negative, but then you're just like, you have one parent who just tells you you're fabulous. You drink the Kool-Aid and believe it. all human beings suffer from insecurity, right? All. And so when you think about that, there'll be moments and then you're just like, I've trained my mind to just believe in myself and be positive and optimistic. I speak to myself in a certain way. I train myself in a certain way. I show up, I work hard. I work really hard. I have created my success.
1:04:44I have created my luck. I have done that and I am very grateful, but I am not a slacker. So like, you know, and I deserve it because of what I've done. You know, it's like, it's 34 years of winning awards and going for it and working 18 hour days and working weekends and sacrificing certain things. And, you know, but it's, it's not life for everyone, but I love it. I love it. And I've had a good time and I've got a lot of energy. So I can, you know, I can party. I can go out. I can party. I can party, Dolly. She can party. I've been to those parties. You know, you wait and you wait and you wait.
1:05:17You go to a pizza every year and then one day she knows who you are and you're like, I'm in.
1:05:23Oh, my God. It's too funny. What do you say to women, though? Because obviously not everybody is born without confidence. Not everybody has that person in their corner that gives them that self-belief. And I do think that oftentimes we're told, like, not necessarily to stand out, right? like to tone ourselves down. So what do you say? Do you think that women need to tone themselves down to be taken seriously? And how should, like, how do they do it otherwise? Like, what do you do instead? I know there's this person I sort of, you know, I was working with said that they were in a company where they said they had to choose, and this is years ago, they had to choose makeup or high heels.
1:05:58And I was like, to be in a business world, I'm like, count us out. Yeah, exactly. But I think we're living in a slightly different world. I think we're living in a slightly different world now. People will say to me, don't be fooled by the laughter. right with me. And it's like, we're astute. We're smart. We're businesswomen. We've created empires. Why can't I laugh? Why can't I dance? Why can't I wear high heels? Why can't I wear sexy outfits? I just want to be unapologetically me. Why can't I be sexy and charming and naughty and funny and bright and a businesswoman? Like, why not? I definitely have been underestimated, but you know, that's been a superpower too.
1:06:32I've used that. So I'm like, you know, it's like, if you want to underestimate me, no problem. I'm like, go right ahead. That's actually kind of, I can win, you know, so you just, I'll prove it. It's completely amazing. It is. So I think live life to the full, be yourself. And I don't think you should apologize for who you are and try and be something you're not. Cause actually I think it comes out in your energy and your frequency. Yeah, it does. And I think that people pick, we are, we have got that animalistic instinct where people pick up on that. They can pick up on something where you're not being authentic and authenticity is 40 times more powerful than the love frequency, right?
1:07:0840 times, 40 times more powerful. Meaning that we're so much more attracted to authenticity. Yes. And also imagine today's world of social media and where we're at and what's different. So much BS. It's like, it's just that authenticity cuts through so much more. Oh, I believe that. Yeah. I believe that because you can feel it, right? You can feel it. You can smell it. I want to ask you about what has given, Like what have been your trade-offs? Because it's really my belief that when you've had a career like yours, when you've been so successful, there's always some underbelly to it, right? And I wonder what you've given on the other side of all of your success.
1:07:45Not everyone has as much energy as I do, right? Like I'm not being funny. When I was doing all the, you know, every single fashion show, flying around the world, doing 18 hour days, I'd still go out. And everyone else would go to bed. I know that too. Right? And everyone else would go to bed. So not everyone wants, not everyone wants to do that. I'm like, why? I'm like, I'm going to have it all. I'm like, I'm going to have a fabulous business. I'm going to be the, you know, world's whatever, like arguably top makeup artist. I'm going to basically go out. I'm going to have fun. I'm going to have kids.
1:08:12I'm like, I'm going to have a family. Why not? Definitely there have been times when, you know, would I have liked more sleep? Yes. Would I have liked more time? Yes. You didn't give anything in relationships? You didn't like, there was, I'm trying to understand because it's my belief that you can have it all. You can't have it all, all of the time. And I know that you are someone who really put the hours in, Charlotte. Like, no, you worked. You're not somebody who's just like, you know, did a four-hour shoot. You went back to back to back to back to back. You did all the shows. Traveled around the world.
1:08:42Yeah, exactly. Non-stop. You know, and those were amazing days and it's all wonderful backstage, but it's also hard graft. Hard graft, yeah. And I do think that there is, you know, when you're building a business, it's not all wonderful and magic there's some kind of shit that goes down I've missed parties I've missed weddings I've missed times that I really wanted to show up for my friends that I wasn't able to be there but on the whole I mean listen time I always want more time because I'm just like I'm a 24-7 girl I like I've got we're on this earth for such a short period of time and there's so much I want to do and so much to achieve but somehow I kind of we've bent time I don't know how I've done it but like literally you know It will be mine.
1:09:23It will be mine. I will work for like, I will party. I will kind of go out for like 20 hours. Like, you know, but that's kind of, you know, whereas most people don't want to do that. Honestly, I don't have regrets. I don't have regrets. I, listen, the few times, a couple of weddings of really good friends of mine, I was just like, I really wish I'd been there. Yeah. And a couple of fun times where I was like, you know, amazing parties, people having a great time, but there's always another party. Maybe there's not always another wedding. Now I do kind of prioritize being there for my friends because they are so there for me.
1:09:52play my kids play at school no I'm not but I'm not at school gates every morning either but I'm just not that mother the mother that I am is like I will show up for your major sports day or your kind of musical event or whatever it is but otherwise I am building an empire and I am happy and I am fun and I'm not you know what I mean and so we're just how old are your kids so my kids are 16 and 11 and so your kids were little while you were building the empire They were like toddlers. No, no, no, no, like toddlers. One year I got divorced, remarried, had another baby and launched my brand in America and moved house in one year.
1:10:32And went to a lot of parties. And went to a lot of parties.
1:10:38That's a lot. I remember just being like, oh, maybe a bit more than you can chew this year. That's a lot. Yeah. And so I guess your kids have never known any different. Your kids have always known you to be mummy that leaves, works, travels, does what she needs to do. Yeah, but then I take the holidays. I try to take the holidays and I try to kind of like and be present. I'm very much like, I'm very that kind of mindset where I'm very present in whatever I'm doing. I have a kind of, whether I'm in business, I'm like obsessing about business and I'm totally focused in the room. I'm not very attached to my telephone.
1:11:06I'm very like totally focused. Or I'm kind of, I'm very in the moment of whatever I'm doing, whether I'm having fun, whether I'm doing, you know, whether I'm working or whether I'm kind of with the kids. It sort of tries to be kind of very present in whatever that is. Did you ever suffer with mum guilt? No. No, I just don't believe in that. I don't believe in guilt. I believe we show up in life, we do our best and that's it. I'm like, I just don't believe in it. Throw the guilt in the bin. Like as long as I'm trying my best, because I am like, you know, I really love my kids. I'm really family orientated.
1:11:39But have I been there all the time? No. But like, you know, would I like to have been there a bit more? Yes. But like, at least we really love each other and love conquers all. And all you need is love. As that's what my father always used to say to me, all you need is love and that's it. So I'm like, and as long as I'm a happy mother, do you know what I mean? I think, and I turn up to the right moments, then I feel like I'm doing my best. We're going to have a good time.
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1:16:54Charlotte, what are the biggest lessons that you've learned when you look at your career and your life and what a career? It's like, what have you learned and what would you say to young founders, young women that want to emulate what you've done and have the same type of success as you have now? I think my motto in life, and this is what I live by and stand by, is dare to dream it. dare to believe it most importantly and then dare to do it because I think the biggest difference in life is that people have a dream but they don't even try and if you don't try you'll never know and if you just believe in that if you just one step in front of the other building blocks just try your best as I say to my kids just try your best it's all you can do and then literally it just starts to happen and never give up and always believe and embrace the challenge.
1:17:51And challenge is opportunity and don't see it in a negative way and rewire your brain, rewire your brain to think optimistically and to think about challenges, opportunity and drive yourself there and you will achieve your dreams. I mean, when I think of the Einstein quotes, which I basically die and live by, which, because he understood a thing or two, old Einstein. One or two. No, exactly. Which is like, his thing was, everything is energy and that's all there is to it. So we all resonate at an energy. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you will get that reality. There can be no other way.
1:18:31And that's it. The universe doesn't speak Mandarin or English or anything else or French. It speaks frequency and energy. And so if you resonate at believing, if you're authentically who you are and you don't lie and you basically are unapologetic about who you are, why should you feel ashamed or insecure? Like show up, love yourself. It's like, and train yourself because there's plenty of people who tell you you're not fabulous. Plenty of people will tell you that you can't do things. I mean, I've had that. I've been told. I've been teased. I have been told I won't. I am crazy. I have been told I won't.
1:19:07What am I doing? I'm mad. Do you know what? whatever, the naysayers, thank you, goodbye. And literally rewire your brain to autism. You just carry on your chin. You see your white space. You keep going. You do what you need to do. And it will come true. Your dreams will happen. You have the mindset of an absolute champion. That is it. I need it on our bronzer, on our blush it. I want it to be like, dream it, believe it, do it. And every day I'll be like, Charlotte said. But it's the winner's mindset, right? It is. It is. Everyone, you've got it. Everyone is the winner's mindset. Look at all those athletes.
1:19:43As I was saying, this person that I was working with, when I gave them the Ronda Byrne secret, they're like, oh my God, this rubbish creative visualization. What is this thing that you're talking about? Like woo woo, whatever. And I was like, uh-uh, this is real. This is like, this is the secret codes to life, to success. This is it. And they read it and they came back and they said, Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile. It was considered to be humanly impossible. He didn't have the lung capacity at the time. They didn't think that it was humanly impossible to do. And he believed he could, so he did.
1:20:18And so, and that is the same. It's like, it's the same thing that Einstein's talking about, where all energy matched the frequency, the frequency, because it doesn't speak anything else, but frequency, that, well, it's frequency, feeling, feel it, manifest it, and then it will be, there can be no other way. I believe this like to my core exactly I can't even like I know first of all I know it to be true look at you all the amazing things that you've done I know it to be true and all the amazing things that you've achieved you and I think the same way anyone that's achieved anything in life they all think the same way people will still come tell you you're crazy you're this something and you're like okay whatever but you just and positive thoughts and optimism I talk about you know lucky girl syndrome right you know about this and it's a thing that kind of like picked up on TikTok but actually lucky girl syndrome is something that you and I I've done for years, we have rewired our brain, neuroplasticity, to literally optimize, to just think positive, like a negative thought comes in, out, positive.
1:21:15What are we doing? What are the build-emots? Where are we going? And then, up, up, up. And then the reality, that becomes our reality. It's like conceive, believe, receive. You end up receiving. And so it's, it's, and you're wiring your brain in that way. And that's what I always tell people, that you can do it. And you know what's amazing about rewiring your brain is you can do it fast really fast that's that whole quantum thinking it can change like that that's what people don't realize i love that you say that we had tracy ellis for us here and she says you know emma i manifest real fast and we all were just like you know because when you know it and that's part of your routine and that is the your default way of thinking it can happen really fast really fast charlotte it doesn't need to take time you are the blocker you are the blocker yeah you are the only person and what people don't realize in life is actually, I remember, you know, a friend of mine just broke up with someone and I was saying, you know what?
1:22:06The problem is not the other person. It's you. And wherever you go, whether you're going to marry a fisherman or a kind of a banker or whatever, it's like, it's you. What are you searching? What is the mirror in life that you're kind of searching for? Or how's that showing up? What is it that you need to change within you? You know, I believe this. I mean, I've just written a book called Start With Yourself. Oh my God! It all starts here, right? I mean, it's so true. What do you think if you had to choose like the red thread that goes through your life, through your career, through your success, what is it?
1:22:41What goes through your entire story? I think unwavering belief, unwavering belief, unwavering belief and visualization of what I wanted. I was very clear as a young child, It was probably, I was very young when I knew exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted to be a makeup artist at 16. I didn't become a makeup artist until I was like, go to makeup school about eight, 18 and a half. I wanted to always create a brand. I knew that pretty early on. I was fortunate enough to kind of know where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do very early on. And then really set out about kind of really achieving it and just never giving up, never give up, never give up.
1:23:17Never give up and self-belief and train your brain. Train your brain. everyone can do it. Everyone can do it. Emma, you and I just don't come from a different planet. Yes, we had amazing parents that told us we're amazing. Yes, we believed. We trained ourselves. We trained ourselves. We worked hard. You and I probably couldn't read a P &L. We're both dyslexic. I'm like, but we learned to do it. And we became amazing businesswomen that built empires. So anyone can do it. And that's my point. They have to look at you and I and be inspired in the way that I'm inspired by so many other people. You're inspired by other people.
1:23:51If we could do it, so many other people can do it. So many other people can do it. And I love that, you know, since I launched my brand, thousands of people. I mean, I literally disrupted the industry of five conglomerates. And then I literally went, they were like, well, if she can do it, I can do it. And it went thousands and thousands and thousands of brands literally around the world kind of, you know, coming in. You must love that. No? I do. I love, and do you know what I love? I really love celebrating female entrepreneurs and just entrepreneurs in general. It's so amazing to have, you know, innovating and disrupting and to lead the way for so many great people and to grow the pie and grow the industry, there's enough room for everyone.
1:24:23Oh, there's enough room for everyone. And so many people credit you. Again, I speak to so many young founders that are like, I did this because I saw Charlotte Tilbury did it. At the stage of Beverly Hills come up to me and be like, you know, you launched five people out of the world and then thousands, three thousand brands launched after you and now it's thousands and thousands. But it's great. It's wonderful. It's wonderful to be able to do that. What we both have is like bravery and courage. I think you have to, and now it goes back to feel the fear and do it anyway, right? We have, we've all, we've all felt that insecurity.
1:24:51We've all felt that kind of fear at some point, but we've all taken the courage to just, I'm just going to do my best. And I just believe that, you know, and then what people also underestimate is that practice makes perfect. I wasn't the one businesswoman I am today, 10 years ago. Talk about 10 ,000 hours. I mean, you might have put a hundred thousand hours in. I've definitely done a few MBAs. 10 ,000 fashion weeks. University of life. You know what I love so much about you? And I just had this conversation with Simon Sinek, so I'm not going to steal it. But I think that the true mark of a great leader, a great founder, a great entrepreneur, yes, is courage.
1:25:29But it's courage coupled with integrity, as he would say. And I think that what comes across in you, Charlotte, and I know this because I've known you for so many years, you have such unbelievable integrity. and when I met you as like literally a child backstage gaffering wires to the floor so you didn't trip over. Back in those old days you were so kind. You were so like eyes, eyes, eyes. Hello girl on the floor. How are you? Here's some shit from my kit. You were so nice to everyone and I I think that you have a lot of integrity, not just in your work and in your incredible craft that you've turned into this business, but as a person.
1:26:14We all know that Charlotte Tilbury is Charlotte Tilbury. And I think that that goes a really, really long way. And I don't think that I sit opposite many people and feel like this level of happiness for their success. You deserve all your success. You're mesmerizing. Both of us have known each other. I mean, look at what you've created. And look at you've inspired so many women. Even I sit there and go, how does she do it all? Three empires. I'm like, I've got one. I'm like, and you've got three. I'm like, and then you've got three kids. I've got two kids. I'm like, Emma is a legend. Emma's a legend.
1:26:48I'm like, no, it's too much. Charlotte, you spoke a couple of times about being customer obsessed. But what does that actually look like in real terms? Yeah, I think for me being customer obsessed is looking at the need state of a consumer, number one. Looking at the white space in the market, looking at what they think about what they need before they know that they need it. And then it's that emotional connectivity to the consumer. I think one of the superpowers of why my brand has done really well, it's that, as we talked about authenticity, we talked about being completely who you are and how that really resonates with people.
1:27:21I love my community. And I think it's so important to me to connect emotionally with them. And I think if you think about it today, how do you market in an incredible way? And it is that mass intimacy that is really important to me. I really consider them to be all my friends and they're my darlings, right? And they love you. And I love them. And so it's that, and that emotional connectivity is so important for me to switch on and turn on with, you know, with, with that consumer. Well, it's so clear that they, they really trust you, right? You have this trust thing going on with your customers.
1:27:52Trust is not just a soft metric. It really kind of, it drives loyalty. It drives long retention and long-term profitability. It is amazing. It is. And people feel safe because they can trust the quality of your products. They can trust your formulas and they know you've got their back. Look at me, trusting my Charlotte Tilbury face right now. You can trust me. Gorgeous. Emma Greed, you are gorgeous. From 7am to 7pm. So amazing. Every damn day. I know, you and I, darling. Look at me, fishing for a contract over here. I love it. I've got one. All right, we're going to move to the rapid fire finish.
1:28:27What's the first thing you do when you wake up? Darling, I put on my makeup, And my skincare. What are you using? What are you using? Charlotte Tilbury. What's the last thing you do before you go to bed? Rinse, repeat. No doubt. Who is a woman that inspires your confidence? My mother. Oh, I love that. Yeah, my mother. That's so nice. Do you have a book that changed your life? I do have a book, yeah. Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, darling, I have to say. You and I both feel that, right? We both. We just, yeah, that definitely, definitely. And The Celestine Prophecy. My mother gave that to me when I was younger.
1:29:02Oh, I'm going to reread that. I haven't read that ever. Do you remember? Yes. Celestine Prophecy and The Secret by Rhonda Bunn. Those two have really had an effect on my life. That's going to be my Christmas reread. I give it to everyone that works with me. It really kind of helps shift their mindset and create that community and that kind of vision to strive to do things. To live a life without limits, basically. Live a life without limits. Damn right. What are you aspiring for next in your business life? Conquer the world, darling. And what about in your personal life? In my personal life, I would just always wish for more time.
1:29:36Can we just bend it? Can we just create it? Well, you might be able to. Can we quantum things? If anyone can. Can we quantum things? Let's hold hands. We could probably do it. What is something that you valued when you were starting out your career that you no longer value? I think it'll always be time. Time. I think, you know, I think I always just want more time. What is something that you value deeply right now in your life? that you couldn't care less about when you started out. It's time. It's still time. It's still time. I just want more time. I just love life. I love people. I love life.
1:30:09I love my family. I love my job. I love everything. It's like I just want to have fun. As I said before, it's like, it's so annoying that I'm human and I have to sleep.
1:30:20How many hours do you sleep a night? I probably, listen, I'd love an eight hour. I love a lion. Oh, I'd love a lazy lion, but I don't do an eight hour. I get smart though, darling. When do you use it? No, no, no, no, no. It's not happening. It's not happening. What are you, a solid six? Try for a six. Okay. Sometimes it's a four. That's never great. Like, last night I had four hours sleep. So, it just is because you're travelling, jet lag, it's just whatever. It's just, you know, four hours. Solid six. Thank God. And sometimes when I'm having a lazy Saturday or Sunday, a lion, I, oh, I love to have a lion.
1:30:51But, you know, it's probably kind of a regular six. A regular six. Six. Six. Makes sense. A regular six. She's busy. Thank God for this. She's busy. Flawless finish, though. Exactly, darling. Magic, my mother's like, you can't just rely on magic cream for everything. I was like, yes, you can. You're like, you know what, mum? You can. And they are. Flawless filter magic cream in a full face of silvery. It's fine. She's a fake it to make it. I love it, Charlotte. I have loved every second of it, which you can say for another two hours. Me too, me too, me too. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
1:31:18It's such a treat. You're the best. And we've known each other for years and it's so amazing. And I'm just in awe of everything you've done and you're so inspiring. And this is just honestly such a treat You made me go cold. I love you. Thank you. I love you too. You're the best.
1:31:37If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend. We'll be so grateful. Aspire with Emma Greed is presented by Odyssey. I'm your host, Emma Greed. Our executive producers are Corrine Gilead-Fisher, Derek Brown, and me. Our executive producers from Odyssey on Maddie Sprung-Kaiser, Leah Rees-Dennis, Asha Saluja, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Stephen Key is our senior producer. Sound design and engineering by Bill Schultz. Angela Peluso is our booker. Original music by Charles Black.
1:32:13Video production by Evan Cox, Kurt Courtney, Andrew Steele, Carlos Delgado, and Arnie Agassi. Social media by Olivia Homan. Special thanks to Brittany Smith, Sydney Ford, my teams at The Lead Company, and WME. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson-Rose, Tim Meikle, Sean Cherry, and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you can DM me at Aspire with Emma Greed. Greed is spelled G-R-E-D-E. That's Aspire, A-S-P-I-R-E, with Emma Greed. Or you can submit a question to me on my website, emmagreed.me.
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From the publisher
What does it take to turn obsession into a billion-dollar beauty empire?
In this episode of Aspire with Emma Grede, global makeup icon Charlotte Tilbury sits down with Emma to share how she went from a young girl with a dream to building one of the most powerful and influential beauty brands in the world.
Charlotte opens up about the mindset behind her success — how belief, obsession, and relentless innovation helped her disrupt an overcrowded industry and create products the world didn’t even know it needed. She reveals the lessons she’s learned about leadership, confidence, and self-worth, and the unshakable drive that made her unstoppable.
If you’ve ever doubted yourself, hit a wall, or wondered how to keep believing when no one else does — this conversation will change how you think about success.
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